Twenty-nine years ago today, June 14, I was ordained.
The service was in the gymnasium at Grove City College, location of the 1992 Western PA Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church. Bishop George Bashore presided. It was a warm, sunny, June Sunday. Following the service, my family celebrated at "Quaker Steak and Lube."
During the service was the first time I heard and sung the hymn, "Here, I Am Lord" the lyrics of which come from the call of Samuel as highlighted in I Samuel 3. That hymn remains a personal favorite sung often during mission trip commissionings and laity Sundays.
Being ordained has afforded me the opportunity to be present in major moments in persons' lives. I have anointed the dying, baptized infants, been present for a person's first confession of faith, officiated at funerals working to honor the life of the deceased in ways personal and poignant. I have been the officiant for weddings where my first time I neglected to tell the congregation to "please be seated" and they stood the entire service. The sanctuary had the tall candle holders on the end of the pews so I never noticed.
Why someone didn't just sit down is a mystery to me, yet, I know that during morning worship if during the first hymn I did not stand up and raise my arm to invite congregants to rise, they would stay seated. I always wanted to raise my arm and then lower it, raise and lower and get a kind of congregational wave going.
A recent Gallup Survey revealed that for the first time Americans' membership in a worship community is below 50% with younger generations (Millenial and Z) reporting zero religious affiliation.
I took the photo to the left several years ago while on vacation in Virginia; I thought it perfectly captured the institution of the church as I have experienced it. Alas, things have only gotten worse. Church leadership has become inefffectual and irrelveant in persons' lives. When a major social event such as yet another mass shooting or the backlog of immigrants at the Southern border, a majority of clergy fail to mention or address this during worship. Say something. Even more do something. As the old saying goes, "the oppositie of love isn't hate, it's apathy." Alas, with justifiable proof too many people feel the church does not care about them.
I beleive the faith perspective needs to be offered and the faith lens utilized and shared as we debate and decide and determine our direction as communities and a shared society. This viewpoint is vital. To do that we must be informed. To do that we must care. To do that we must be involved.
It pains me when I frequently hear from far too many persons who say they would not be welcome in the church or that they don't go because they don't want to be stared at or have folks feel they need to be fixed. Not for the insitituion, yet, because of who we profess to be as followers of the Christ, this MUST change.
In light of this, a final point to ponder from Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry: "The church is the only organization that exists primarily for those who are not its members."